The Creation story sums up God’s work by saying, “He rested from all His work which God in creating had made” (Gen. 2:3). The Hebrew says, asher bara E-lokim la’asot, literally “which God created to make”.

God did not make a static but a dynamic universe. It was not a creation at rest but a creation at work.

As an analogy, think of a motor car. In a motor museum it sits there doing nothing. On the road it moves, which is surely why it was made in the first place.

The world was not made just to sit there inert, but to function and operate. God made it la-asot, “to work”.

God was the designer and maker: humans are the operators and drivers. We can neglect the engine and ultimately destroy it; we can also care for it, follow the maker’s instructions and use the motor constructively.

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